Chapter 38: The Express

As Adam opened the message, the numbers nearly blinded him.

A credit alert of $1,500,000.

Current account balance: $1,626,454.

Beneath it was a short note:

A small token of our gratitude for your tremendous deed.

Signed: Mission Hall Management.

Adam stood in the middle of his cramped one-room apartment, staring at his phone in silence.

The alert was so sudden that his mind stalled.

He genuinely hadn’t expected the Mission Hall to be this generous.

But the phrase small token said it all. For the Mission Hall, this amount wasn’t even pocket change.

A slow smile crept onto his face.

“So now I’m a millionaire,” he muttered.

He shook his head in disbelief. Never in his life had he imagined reaching that point, yet here he was.

Sliding his phone away, Adam began organizing the last things he needed.

He had a train to catch tomorrow morning.

Pulling off his clothes, he changed into something more comfortable and collapsed onto his old bed.

“First time I’ll be leaving the sector,” he whispered, smiling faintly at the ceiling.

“I wonder how the experience will be.”

With that lingering thought, Adam’s eyes closed, and he slowly drifted off to sleep.

The Outer Zones were the largest portion of the Alliance, a massive expanse divided into five core regions: the low-tier region, where Sector 516 belonged, followed by the mid-tier, upper-tier, high-tier, and finally the elusive top region.

Together, these five made up the fully governed and protected parts of the Alliance.

But even with their combined size, they still paled in comparison to the wild zones.

Vast, untamed, and vile, the wild zones stretched endlessly across the Outer Zones, filled with monsters of every shape, size, and strength.

Their overwhelming presence was the very reason travel between sectors wasn’t common, and why transporting goods from one sector to another was absurdly expensive.

Every journey risked running into something that could tear caravans apart in seconds.

Air travel wasn’t any safer. The monsters that dominated the sky were a different breed entirely, and humanity had adapted better to the ground than the skies.

So the safest way to travel was neither by road nor by air.

It was by train.

A train so fast that by the time the monsters turned their heads, it had already vanished into the distance.

And that was what Adam was staring at now.

He gazed at the long, aerodynamic machine with a hint of awe.

It resembled a bullet train, sleek and elongated, but there was one striking difference:

It had no tracks.

This was done for a single purpose: maximum speed. No matter how smooth or well-lubricated tracks were, they still created friction that would slow the train.

So the engineers who designed this beast removed the tracks entirely, installing anti-gravity pads beneath the train and carving out dedicated aerial routes between destinations.

These routes were periodically cleared of threats by martial artists.

This was the pride of the Outer Zone.

One of its greatest inventions, and a bold declaration of humanity’s ingenuity.

Adam’s attention shifted as the crowd around him began moving. People were already entering the train, and he didn’t waste a second before following them.

Most, if not all, were martial artists heading out of Sector 516 in search of greener pastures. It made sense.

516 was a new sector even among the low-tier regions, and opportunities were limited. For many, leaving was the only path forward.

Adam understood that sentiment.

But he also felt differently.

This place was full of many memories.

To leave Sector 516 felt like leaving a part of himself behind.

But even though he couldn’t predict what the future held, he knew holding on forever was impossible.

Change was constant and inevitable.

And even he had to abide by it.

As he settled into his seat, he leaned back slightly, exhaling through his nose.

I just hope that change doesn’t come too soon.

The moment the last passenger stepped aboard, the entire cabin experienced a strange, weightless sensation, the same feeling one got when an elevator began its ascent.

The train lifted several inches off the ground.

A voice crackled through the speakers:

“Travellers of the 67 Express, fasten your seat belts. We are about to leave the station.”

A booming cheer erupted from outside as the thrusters activated, their hum growing deeper and stronger.

Adam glanced out the window. Families and friends stood on the platform, waving at the martial artists heading off toward better futures.

Some shouted promises to return wealthier. Others vowed to find a way to bring their loved ones with them next time.

And some, like Adam, sat alone, carrying nothing but their ambitions and the weight of their own path.

The thrusters roared as they gained full traction. The farewell shouts blurred into the background as the platform seemed to slide away.

Then, in the next instant, the train blasted forward, vanishing into the distance like a streak of light.

As Adam looked out the window, the world outside was nothing but a smear of colors, and indistinct blurs.

The train was moving so fast that even with Rapid E active, he doubted he’d be able to keep up.

Yet despite that insane speed, the cabin didn’t even feel like it was moving. No shaking. No rattling. Just silence and comfort.

Adam let the marvel go as he settled deeper into his seat.

The journey from Sector 516 to Sector 418, the closest sector to Siren’s Swamp, would take roughly four hours.

Given the sheer size of Erdes, that distance was massive.

The fact that the train could cover it in mere hours didn’t diminish its speed; it only proved how terrifyingly fast it really was.

With nothing else to do, Adam allowed himself to properly take in his surroundings.

First class… and it lived up to the name.

He had an entire cabin to himself, large enough that he could practice comfortably if he wanted to.

A sleek shower stall gleamed in one corner. A small, elegant bar stocked with drinks sat to the side. And against the far wall was a bed big enough for two. There was also a mirror by the side and, on seeing his reflection, Adam knew a haircut was in order.

The Mission hall sure knows how to spoil someone.

There was even a noise-cancellation feature, one he’d instantly activated the moment he discovered it.

Thankfully, it worked both ways. He wouldn’t hear anything from outside, and no one would hear whatever happened inside.

Just then, a soft, refined chime rang through the room.

A moment later, a smooth female voice echoed from the speaker:

“Mr. Adam, your room service.”

****

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